Bob Kulisheck started doing community service in Marquette almost by accident. In 1969, as a new political science professor at Northern Michigan University, he sent his students out to run community surveys around town. More than 50 years later, the state is giving him its top award for a lifetime of volunteer work.
Kulisheck, the retired head of NMU’s political science department, is this year’s recipient of the Gov. George Romney Lifetime Achievement Award, part of the 2026 Governor’s Service Awards. He’ll be honored with the other winners at a ceremony in Flint on Nov. 19, NMU announced. The award goes to one person each year who has shown a lifelong commitment to community involvement and volunteer service.
He is 83.
“One thing leads to another”
Kulisheck has said the survey project is what pulled him in. “In the process of doing that, I provided students with an opportunity to become involved in community service, and, in so doing I, too, became involved in community service,” he told NMU. “I found that once you start working with people in different organizations and local units of government they frequently ask you to do something more, and one thing leads to another.”
For Kulisheck, one thing led to a long list. He has served as Marquette’s mayor, mayor pro tem and a city commissioner, WJMN reported. He helped found three organizations that still serve people in Marquette:
- Janzen House, the downtown transitional housing facility for people who are homeless or at risk of it. He was instrumental in its revitalization and still serves as vice president of its board.
- Propylon Nonprofit Housing, which provides accessible housing for people with physical or visual disabilities.
- Trillium House, the hospice and respite care home.
He’s still at it. Kulisheck sits on the Marquette County Board of Health and the Marquette Brownfield Authority, and he is the founding chair of the Marquette County Climate Adaptation Task Force, which works on how the Upper Peninsula can prepare for the effects of climate change.
38 years at Northern
At NMU, where he taught public policy for 38 years, Kulisheck started the university’s Master of Public Administration program and launched its Washington Center Internship Program, which sends students to Washington, D.C., for internships. He also built service learning into his courses.
NMU credits that work with preparing generations of students for careers in public service and nonprofit leadership. That’s part of the point of the award: the work didn’t stop with what he did himself.
“For more than 50 years, Dr. Robert Kulisheck has been a foundational pillar of the Marquette community, weaving a thread of service through the very fabric of our region,” NMU trustee Greg Seppanen said. “He brings his trademark tireless work ethic to every cause he touches.”
Giving back to campus
Kulisheck and his wife, Meredith, a retired NMU computer science professor, have also given money back to the university. They’ve set up student scholarships and donated to campus sustainability efforts, public media and the Student Leader Fellowship Program, among other things.
“Northern has been good to us and we feel a need to pass it along to Northern’s current students,” Kulisheck said.
The award
The Governor’s Service Awards are run by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office and the Michigan Community Service Commission and have been handed out since 1994. This year’s class has 33 individuals, businesses and nonprofits from around the state. The lifetime achievement award is named for George Romney, Michigan’s 43rd governor, who made volunteerism a personal cause after leaving office.
The Flint ceremony is Nov. 19. Back home, the organizations he helped start are still doing the work: Janzen House is still housing people downtown, and Trillium House is still caring for people at the end of life.
